How to Propagate Philodendrons

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Philodendrons are tropical plants. This means, among other things, they will NOT survive outside when it gets cold. If you live in a tropical area, I imagine you could plop these babies in your garden bed, and they’d be happy campers year-round. The rest of us have to treat them as indoor house plants or outdoor potted plants during the summer.

Philodendrons are among the easiest houseplants to grow, keep alive, and propagate. Even a forgetful or somewhat neglectful person can successfully keep a philodendron alive and well.

Let me put it this way: they don’t even need dirt! Dirt! They can live forever in a jar of water. Trust me on this one.

I LOVE to encourage discouraged newbie gardeners when/if they experience a gardening “failure.” You might see me reply to a comment with something like, “Take heart. That’s how you learn. Failures, if embraced and learned from, are really the seeds of what turns a failed gardener into a seasoned and experienced gardener.”

However, if you make even the slightest attempt to keep a philodendron alive, but you SOMEHOW manage to kill it … {sigh} you and me … we need to have a talk.

If you want to purchase a philodendron at your local home and garden store and propagate (create baby plants from it) it, here’s how you’d propagate the plant.Follow These Simple Steps to Propagate Philodendrons:

Cut about 6 inches off one of the plant stems (and about 1/4″ below a node – little bumps on the stem);

Remove all but one or two end leaves;

Place the cutting into a jar of water;

Make sure AT LEAST 1, preferably more, node is immersed in the water; and

Place in indirect sunlight in a warm room (not the garage in the winter time).

Within 4 to 6 weeks, if you look REAL closely, you’ll see roots growing from the nodes. After you have some good roots growing, you can plant it in potting soil, or just keep it in water. They can live for what seems like forever in just water, which is what I’m recommending for this post, a post for a gardener newbie. I’ve kept them in water so long that the roots just kept growing and growing … and growing … and growing.

While the cutting is in a water jar, periodically check the waterline. As the plant grows, the roots will consume water, and there’s also the evaporation factor. Make sure the roots are always immersed in water. When the water gets cloudy, dump and replenish with fresh water.

One problem I had was trying to keep my cutting from falling out of the container of water. I kept trying to prop the leaf up against another object to keep the heavy leaf from causing the cutting to topple out of the container. I was using a short glass drinking cup. When I moved the cutting to a tall spice jar with a small opening/mouth, the problem was solved. Everything was balanced and happy.Here are similar – but different! – containers to what I have:

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On February 1st, I cut the stem from the parent plant. The below images show the root growth over a period of a couple months.

A Few Notes:

I made my cut way too short, but I was mostly doing an experiment to see how long it would take for the roots to appear, etc., etc.

I ended up cutting the extra stem below the nodes. You only need to keep about 1/4″ below your last node.

Everyone says to place the cutting in INDIRECT light. I always place mine near my kitchen window where it gets a very short period of time, due to all the trees, direct sunlight.

In case you’re wondering, no, olive oil is not needed to propagate philodendrons. I was looking around the house for jars with narrow mouths/openings for the photo, and this one fit the bill. It already had oil in it.

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I bought one a couple of years ago that was beat almost to death with hail and propagated it. I wound up with philodendron everywhere! They are truly that easy to grow. I have been lazy and even still have one growing in the water like you show here. Great post to save a couple of dollars and still be able to have awesome plants around the house.

The only problem with this is the plant that you propagated in the photographs is not a Philodendron. It’s in the same family(Araceae), but it’s an Epipremnum aureum. If you tried to propagate any climbing or self-heading Philodendron in water, 95% of them will rot and die after a few days to a week. Velvet types will be toast in a couple. There are quite a few true Philodendrons, like P. hederaceum sold as house plants that could be confused with an Epipremnum and will rot. THey are too easy to propagate doing a simple layer or taking cuttings. If you need an ID, try The International Aroid Society or an Aroid or Philodendron group on Facebook for a faster response.

Thank you, Robert. I was wondering why mine would never root and just rot. You are absolutely correct..,what’s pictured is NOT Philodendron. I hadn’t really looked at the pics. Will go back and search the correct way to propagate.

Hello Dear,
Your webpage is way to wonderful to say the least. Thank you! I wonder if you have tried to start roots via potting soil? Person’s say how to do so but the amount to put the end in soil is not talked about. Thus, not knowing this I am forced to experiment with undesirable results. Thank you again and please contact me through my email. David

Hi Holly,
I love this, thanks for all the help propagating my Philodendron. My mother gave me instructions over the phone but I forget them. One thing I did differently that may help you the next time was I take the cuttings, hold them in a vase and fill the vase halfway with those decorative glass beads, then fill with water. The beads hold the cuttings in place.

Thank you for the great article as we are beginners that really love our plants. My question is : will it be possible to save a really long leg (7feet) that has grown away from the main plant/pot. The leg has about 2-4 feet unused stem and a ton of healthy leaves at the last 2 feet. We want to separate it from the pot and remove the dead/dry/unhealthy first 2-4 feet while saving the last 2 feet that are healthy and full of leaves. Is this possible? Any advice is welcome and appreciated as we are so happy that we saved this beauty from near peril a few years ago.